Proof that feminist mobilization pays off: the conservative government has suspended its law which banned almost all abortions.
The Polish government has delayed the implementation of a court ruling by the Constitutional Court that would have made all Voluntary Pregnancy Interruptions illegal. This is a victory for Polish women who have demonstrated and called strikes against this court decision. Since October 22, when the possibilities of resorting to abortion were reduced, demonstrations have indeed taken place across the country, and described by the Guardian as the most massive in the country since the fall of communism. More than 100,000 people gathered in Warsaw on Friday, defying the ban on gatherings due to the coronavirus.
Poland's abortion law is already the strictest in Europe, and the ruling ruled that abortion illegal even in the case of a fetus with severe and irreversible deformities. This type of situation leading to abortion was almost the only one legally recorded for abortions in this country.
The decision even provoked an outraged reaction from Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic: "Éeliminating the grounds for almost all legal abortions in Poland is practically equal to banning them and violating human rights ”. Indeed, this decision "Translates into clandestine abortions or (performed) abroad for those who can afford it and more suffering for others".
For his part, Michał Dworczyk, head of the Prime Minister's chancellery, declared following this suspension:
"There is a debate going on, and it would be good to take the time to dialogue and find a new position in this situation, which is difficult and stirs up a lot of emotions."